SULPHUR, Okla. (AP) — An Oklahoma man has been sentenced to probation after pleading guilty to raping a 13-year-old Texas girl at a church camp.
Charging documents allege 36-year-old Benjamin Lawrence Petty attacked the girl in 2016, while she was attending the Falls Creek church camp in Oklahoma. Investigators say Petty tied a rope around the girl's wrists, raped her and threatened to hurt her if she told anyone.
Petty was a cook for the camp at the time.
The Oklahoman newspaper reports that Murray County Assistant District Attorney David Pyle says a major factor in his decision not to insist on prison time was because Petty was legally blind.
Petty was sentenced to 15 years' probation after pleading guilty to first-degree rape and other charges on Jan. 19.
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